I was IMPRESSED today when I stopped in at one of my home courses. Posted on all the entrances, the scoreboard and miscellaneous other places I saw a notice letting course patrons know they they’re punching the greens on October 3rd and 4th. This is not only courteous but honorable for them to do.

I REALLY don’t like it when I show up to a course, pay my green fees and then get to the first green only to find out they’re freshly punched. I think courses who don’t notify their customers are ripping them off. I really don’t enjoy punched greens.

So here’s a note to you golf courses to do the honorable thing and let people know when your greens are punched or when your course conditions are not up to par. You may lose a few short term customers while the course is recovering, but you’ll win them over in the long run.

The courses here in Memphis do a fairly good job of giving notice, and some with reduced rates during the first few days after punching.

One course I normally play though, did something fairly original I think. They punched in May, half of each green. During that time, the hole would be located on the non-punched side of the green. Five weeks later, they came back and punched the other half of the green. This is a great semi-private course, which charges avg $30 a round with cart. Sometime in the next month or two, they will overseed the fairways with rye, and the fairways will stay green all winter long.